Venus Retrograde: “What’s In Your Wallet?”

The persona known as Fortuna and ruler of femmes, fashion, jewelry, lovers and cash, will now backtrack from 15+ Aries to 29 Pisces by April 17 then retrace her steps to 15-16 Aries up to May 22nd, when she leaves the degrees astrology wonks call “shadow.”

To understand how Venus operates when she’s retrograde in your life, 1) locate Venus in your own chart (sign and house; and 2) look to what house cusps contain Venus’s signs (Taurus/Libra) in your birth chart. This should give you a basic idea of what to expect over the next 6 weeks.

If stargazing isn’t your cup of cosmic tea, meditate on the Empress and Justice cards in the Tarot deck. These two cards give us two faces of Venus. Taurus (Empress) is associated with all things that pleasure the senses: aromatherapy candles, cosmetics, perfumes, jewelry, massage, love making, socializing, bridal, bachelorette and baby showers, engagement and wedding announcements, beauty shops, clothiers, and more!

Libra (Justice card) is concerned with how relationships work, the marriage contract, relationship commitment — longevity because Saturn of “things that last long” is exalted (works especially well) when in Libra — and even if not placed there, has a special relationship with the sign. Partnerships of all kinds are associated with Libra and all contracts and agreements, whether oral or written, share a link with even-handed Libra.

This brings me to Venus’s current placement in Aries, the sign opposite Libra, one of her two rulership signs. When a planet is in a sign opposite the one it rules, this is what astro wonks call “detriment.” Venus in one of her two signs of detriment (she rules Taurus, so Scorpio is her other sign of detriment), means: She can’t work as well as she normally does. She’s hampered, challenged or handicapped in some way until she moves out of Aries and enters Taurus (June 6, 2009).

Does this mean everything is going to a misery? NO! But there are a few things we’re going to need to suck up and deal with in order to come out of Venus retrograde feeling okay.

1. Venus in Aries is an uncomfortable place for the Goddess because she’s moving through Mars’s sign of rulership. Venus in Aries has a tendency to want to start doing Mars’s job. I don’t mean that women should sit on pillows and be fluffy at the expense of dynamic achievement in the marketplace. What I DO mean is that Venus — in connection with romantic issues — needs to re-member that VENUS’S JOB IS TO ATTRACT. That’s her job. That’s what Venus does.

VENUS IS THE LAW OF ATTRACTION and every woman who’s spent a day at the beauty parlor preparing for a big date knows exactly what I’m talking about. Every person who has burned candles to support their affirmations of abundance, “I want to attract more wealth”, knows exactly what I’m talking about.

Venus in Aries, because of impatience (an Aries trait!) attempts to wrestle people, places, things and circumstances into the form wanted without regard for consequences. The result: THE PROJECT BACKFIRES!

The lesson? If S/He isn’t cooperating (Libra) with what you want — are you being too aggressive? Demanding? Are you putting expectations and — yeah — selfish desire ahead of Venus’s natural graciousness and respect for another’s values? Time? Life situation? Inner process?

These are all important considerations for getting a handle on how to navigate Venus retrograde in Aries.

Anxiety, anger, frustration, and dramatic outbursts at not getting what we want when we want it are signs that we are out of balance (Venus as ruler of balancing Libra). Once we know that retrograde Venus in Aries, needs to practice patience, chant LET GO, LET THE UNIVERSE and stop trying to do Mars’s job, we can redirect all that burning energy from frustration to eventual fruition.

SABIAN SYMBOL for Venus at 15-16 Aries:

Nature Spirits Are Seen At Work In The Light Of Sunset

The image of nature spirits at work matches up with the side of Venus she enacts when in the sign Taurus. From this sabian symbol we take clues of how to assuage our fears and tamp down our tempers. All things associated with the sensual are our remedies: spa days, massages, aromatherapy, candle rituals, incense, dressing better, using body lotions, redoing the bedroom, getting out the fancier sheets and using the better table linens, dabbing on a favorite perfume even if you’re just going for a walk, and:

going over that checkbook to find ways to balance the budget; cutback on needless expenditures (by using what we already have on hand for the rituals described above), deciding how to pay down credit card debt, budgeting cash-in-wallet by brown bagging lunch to the office, waiting until Venus goes direct before getting a new hair-do (trims are okay), no botox or plastic surgery, no new clothes expenditures unless you’re just replacing commonly used items such as wallets, the obligatory black shoes, another pair of gray slacks.

The above suggestions are some of the many I’ve collected and used myself and advised clients of for many, many years now.

The bottom line? Dont make Venus — or any other planet for that matter — do a job that is not in line with it’s nature. Venus is not Mars. By the same token, Mars (now in Aquarius) is not Venus either — so while thinking about what “he” may not be showing you right now — anything warm, soft and fuzzy maybe? That’s not Mars’s job — especially when transiting intellectually detached Aquarius!

When Mercury and Mars move into watery Pisces in the next few days, a lot is going to shift for guys. They’re suddenly going to get in touch with a lot of feelings that were much easier to set aside during the march through Aquarius. The element change of Mercury-Mars from air to water will help ameliorate firey Venus’s frustration. What happens when you mix water with fire? Steam! We’ll have everything from tempests in a teapot to long soaks in the hot tub!

REMEMBER:

TIMING IS EVERYTHING and our job is to make ourselves ready to receive outworkings and gifts at the appointed time. The HOW it’s going to happen isn’t our business. Our business is to STAND and BELIEVE. Nothing gets released through clenched fists. Once we really accept that The Universe is on our side and KNOWS when we’re ready to receive, all anxiety and doubt fall away.

Whether our current hopes are centered on love, or we’re facing money or job challenges, this difficult time in the USA’s economy need not limit our future success.

Remember: God (The Universe) Is Not Broke!

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Responses

Hi Claudia- Great job on Venus Retro- too bad I didn’t read it before I went clothes shopping yesterday! Oops-got some great stuff ,but found my 25% off coupon expired last week and I paid mostly full price. I’ve got to read your blogs as soon as they come out from now on… “Forewarned is forearmed”. Thanks! -Anita

@Anita — Ohhhh, I’ve been there/done that. I once bought a dress on a V/C Scorpio Moon. What was I thinking!? I hated it. I returned it to the store and bought a sporty outfit when the Moon went to Sag!